ABSTRACT
The fourth chapter aims to explore if early Pietism established a tradition in regard to Jews, upon which neo-Pietists could draw. Naturally, most German Pietists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries desired the Jews’ conversion as part of their theological and chiliastic expectations. Diverging from Luther’s later teaching, however, Pietists avoided hostility towards the Jews and declined any coercive measures to promote their change of heart. The chapter demonstrates that, although conversion was anticipated, many Pietists (among them Spener, Johanna Eleonore von (Merlau) Petersen, Sigismundus Hosmann, and Zinzendorf) questioned any practical mass conversion of Jews. Instead, they advocated tolerance towards Jews as Jews, acknowledging their distinct culture, language, and sacred hopes for Jerusalem. At the same time, they were convinced that even if Jews did embrace Christianity, they would always keep their social and cultural peculiarities, while some even advocated the Jews’ restoration to Jerusalem as most appropriate for the future of Judaism.
